Vaal Dam is full. Why is there no water?
You can't pump raw water from the Vaal Dam to the reservoirs to supply residents. Rand Water has to treat the water and then supply it to the cities and towns, but its treatment capacity is limited. In a normal situation it would be sufficient but in the last month we've had an abnormal situation, including severe load-shedding, which means water can't be pumped into the reservoirs.
We've had load-shedding for 15 years, haven't we?
Yes.
Why hasn't it caused such major water supply problems before?
It has caused water supply problems before but now there's also been a heatwave leading to increased consumption and a spike in demand.
What about years of poor management and neglected infrastructure catching up with us?
Much of the infrastructure is old and requires replacement, but that doesn't negate the fact there has been a spike in demand.
So your response to the crisis is to increase Rand Water's raw water allocation?
Yes, so it's not constrained by its current allocation in terms of being able to treat and supply as much water as possible in these difficult times. Rand Water does have an absolute constraint in terms of its treatment capacity, so you can't just provide it with an infinite amount of raw water and expect it to treat it.
Increasing its allocation in the past didn't solve its water supply problems because of its failure to expand its treatment capacity?
The counterargument is that Rand Water has treatment capacity to provide 300l a day per resident, which in a normal situation is sufficient. It will need to increase its treatment capacity in future. We're going to be doing Lesotho Highlands phase 2 ...
That should have been done by 2020, why the delay?
A number of reasons, including weaknesses in management by my own department. But we've got it back on track.
When will it start delivering?
The latest estimate is 2027.
What if there's another delay?
The minister and I will focus on making sure there isn't.
Would you agree there have been many promises from your department and nothing has come of them?
I wouldn't say nothing. We've underdelivered in the past, I'd agree on that.
Why should we trust you now?
The minister and I are working very hard on service delivery. You can look at certain things that have happened.
Didn't the minister promise Giyani residents they'd have water by the end of September?
There's a bulk supply line being built to Giyani. What the minister indicated was that it would reach Giyani and pump water into their treatment plant by September. Unfortunately, there was a delay. The target date now is December
Why is SA's water and sanitation infrastructure so much worse than far less-resourced African countries such as Zambia?
Zambia has gone through a process of reform that we want to learn from.
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